Pronunciation Thread

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Hello! To begin I want to say I am putting this thread in Cosmere Theories due to possible spoilers, as the thread will involve all of Brandon's books (including non-Cosmere potentially).
 
Essentially the point of the thread is for us to share information about word pronunciation in regards to Brandon's works. I got the idea because I wanted to know how to pronounce "Austre." Then I ran a quick search for another thread like this, and there wasn't one (that I could find)! So here we are.
 
Post here if you want to know how to pronounce something, and I'll try to keep a table of "official" pronunciations as we learn them. Obvious inclusions are the Elantris names. I'll get to the list at some point.
 
Here's a fun WoB for you!
source
 

Question
This might seem kind of silly, but is there ever going to be a pronunciation guide for your work, perhaps? I argue with my brother on how the cities of Mistborn novels are pronounced.
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah... maybe. I'm not so strict on pronunciation as some other authors are, because when I read books, I just pronounce things however I want in my head, and then I ignore what they said, how they should be pronounced.

Well, my edit to put the WoB in glitched somehow and the rest of my post got deleted, so here it is again:

 

Official Pronunciation List - Thanks to FeatherWriter for posting much of this in the last post of this very page!

Sel

Brandon has actually posted a cool pronunciation guide on his website. Your link is right here! Check it out!

 

Nalthis

Coming Soon once I get sources worked out

 

Scadrial

Coming Soon once I get sources worked out

 

Roshar

Szeth: Zeth

 

Coming Soon

 

Minor Cosmere Worlds

Coming Soon

 

Reckonerverse

Most of the names are pretty self-explanatory. Odd pronunciations will be placed here if they can be sourced.

 

Rithmatist-Earth

Same as Reckonerverse. Odd pronunciations will be placed here if they can be sourced.

 

Other Universes

Coming Soon

 

 

 

---

 

So anyways, how do you pronounce "Austre?" I've always used "ah-stray," but it could be pronounced like austere (ah-steer), or even as "ah-ster." Or is the "au" pronounced more like "a-oo" than "ah?"

Edited March 23, 2015 by Blaze1616

[Argent he/him]

The Graphic Audio narrators pronounce it more like "OH-stree" and it sounds about right. Initially I was reading it almost phonetically - "ah-UH-stree" - but that's more heritage of my native language being phonetic, I think. 

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

That particular one, I've always said "Au-steer" in my head, but I love that Brandon himself isn't a stickler fro pronunciation. 

[Paragrin she/her]

I always said "ah-struh".

[Curiosity he/him]

It caught me off guard when people started pronouncing Jasnah as "Yaz-nah", but now I don't have any problem with it. "Jaws-nah" doesn't sound right anymore. However, I don't know about Jezrien. I assume that all Vorin "j"s are soft?

[Shardlet he/him]

The one I always mispronounced was Shadesmar (Shad-ez-mar).  It is actually pronounced Shades-mar, which makes more sense to me anyways since that pronunciation suggests sea of shadows or shades.

 

 

It caught me off guard when people started pronouncing Jasnah as "Yaz-nah", but now I don't have any problem with it. "Jaws-nah" doesn't sound right anymore. However, I don't know about Jezrien. I assume that all Vorin "j"s are soft?

 

I used to read it Jazz-nuh. 

[Redbird he/him]

I always said aw-ster, and read Jezrien, Jasnah and Jah Keved with the y sound for j for no particular reason.

I also said Demoux and Renoux as de-mow and re-now, but a friend who knows french said it would be re-no and de-mo, so now I say that.

Edited March 20, 2015 by Redbird

[Mckeedee123 he/him]

Hmm... I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that for the Elantris names, the Aonic part is pronounced literally, while the other syllables are pronounced with minimal emphasis on the vowel sound (So Raoden is Ray-oh-dn, Sarene is Sr-ay-nay, Kiin is Kiy-yine, Roial is Rw-iye-al, and so on)

 

By the way, how many Saw-zed's do we have in the room?

Edited March 20, 2015 by Mckeedee123

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

I always said aw-ster, and read Jezrien, Jasnah and Jah Keved with the y sound for j for no particular reason.

I also said Demoux and Renoux as de-mow and re-now, but a friend who knows french said it would be re-no and de-mo, so now I say that.

 

I've always said: Jez-ree-en, Jass-nah, Jah Kev-ed with the hard "Jay" sound. Demoux/Renoux I said in the French way as well. 

[Mckeedee123 he/him]

I've always said: Jez-ree-en, Jass-nah, Jah Kev-ed with the hard "Jay" sound. Demoux/Renoux I said in the French way as well. 

 

Speaking of which, I think that the Purelake guy... Ishikk, said that when the worldhoppers were talking to Thinker, he thought they called him "Temoo", which probably means the actual pronunciation of the end of the name is "oo" and not "oh"

[Xaladin he/him]

AWE-stree

Suh-REE-nee

t-VLAWK-v

A-doh-lin (A as in Apple) and SAY-dee-us (which doesn't seem to match how I pronounce Adolin)

 

Does anyone here say Szeth instead of just Seth? Or is there another way?

And does anyone say SKAY-awe (for Skaa?)

[Wonko the Sane he/him]

Names like Demoux, I say French-like because I don't see any other way that doesn't sound ridiculous. Kelsier and Vin get no such courtesy. Out of curiosity, are we supposed to say Venture names with a German accent?

 

Guilty as charged, Mckeedee, although I said it more like SAH-zed. it made the nickname SAH-zay (my best guess for Saze) seem extraordinarily awkward and pointless.

 

when I read the first book, I said JAZZ-nuh, but I've moved to YOSS-nuh. I still tend to say JEZZ-ree-en, though. I'm pretty sure that's wrong, especially since one of his names is Yaezir.

 

I just said AWS-ter. Ever since I listened to the Graphic Audio, though, Idris is irrevocably Scottish in my head.

 

We seem to have a (hideously twisted) grasp of Aonic diction, but does anyone have any clue as to how other Selish names are supposed to sound?

 

Wait, Seth? I thought I had that one right for certain as Zeth! Is there no name upon which we can all agree?

 

Also, I have a lot of trouble with stressing some names. For example, I might say SHALL-en or shuh-LON, depending on the use.

[Argent he/him]

I try to say Szeth's name with both 's' and 'z' sounds, but it usually ends up being only 'z'.

Jasnah, Jezrien, and the other J-names are essentially canon Y-sounds.

Skaa I can only say as "ska" or maybe "ska-ah".

Saze is like gaze to me. If Sazed is SAY-zed, then his nickname has to sound similarly, I think.

[Nicroburst he/him]

I've always said it like "Awe-stur" but maybe that's just me.

[sanderfan she/her]

Well, since Sazed's nickname is Saze (which to me rhymes with gaze) I always say SAY-zed (and no one can convince me otherwise, but it's not like I'm going to judge you for saying SAW-zed just do whatever makes you happy).

 

Jasnah has always been JAZZ-nah for me (hard J)

Jezrien is JEZ-ree-en (hard J again)

 

Austre I always said au-STEER, but that doesn't even make sense to me.

 

And can we all agree that it's KAL-uh-din and not kah-LA-din since his nickname is Kal? I mean, I can see why you would pronounce it the second way, but calling him Kal makes it pretty definite for me.

 

For some reason, the hardest one for me is Shallan. Is it SHALL-en, SHALL-on, shall-ON?

 

I don't even know where to start with Sadeas. I just say suh-DAY-us but that's not how it's spell at all but I can't think of a better way.

 

I try to say both the s and the z in Szeth, but it's unpredictable as to what sound actually comes out of my mouth.

 

Demoux and Renoux I always said French-like because I figured they were supposed to be

 

And Aonic names just make me want to cry.

Raoden for me is RAY-oh-den

Sarene I know is supposed to have the second "e" pronounced but I just say suh-REEN

Everything else I just make up noises.

Edited March 22, 2015 by sanderfan

[Nicroburst he/him]

I actually pronounce Shallan Sha-lan as opposed to Shall-an or Shall-on

I pronounce Kaladin as Kah-lah-diin and Kal as Kahl

I pronounce Sadeas as SAY-DEE-US

Szeth I treat the z as silent

Aoinic names are among my favourite in the cosmere, though I think I say them wrong.

Raoden as RAY-OH-den

Sarene as SAH-REEN

Roial as ROY-EE-AL

 

Kiin as KEEN

 

Hrathen as RAY-THEN (The th is soft as in thistle)

Ioadin as EYE-OH-a-den

I'll think on others
 

[Dihatimus]

listening to the audiobooks really surprised me when I read the book first. Audio version of Siuan is Swan.

 

For the books I listen to before reading the voice actor version is what I always default to. There was a weird quirk in the audiobook version in TWoK that set up a hilarious moment in WoR that no one reading would have seen. In TWoK Michael Kramer pronounced Sadeas as SAD-ee-us, his wife Kate Reading pronounced it Suh-dee-us. In the prologue of WoR Kate was reading and when it came time for her to say sadeas she really REALLY emphasized it pronouncing it as SAD-ee-us. I mean it was as if she was saying "me and Michael had a really long talk and after reading all the complaints agreed to check with one another on our pronunciation for continuity. Sorry for the confusion. you can stop sending glitter bombs."

 

For the readers, here are the audiobook version of the names, Note: I am not great at spelling phonetically.

 

Adolin, EY-doh-lin The A sounds like say

Kiin, kai-ain where i sounds like eye

Sazed, Say-zed

Loial, Loyal

Skaa, Skah

Iyatl, ee-YA-tl

Roion, Roy-ee-on

Shallan, Shuh-lawn

Ryshadium, ri-shade-ee-um

Bussik, Biss-sick

Balat, buh-LOT

Zahel, rhymes with vile

Jasnah, yes-nuh

Nale, Nah-luh

Jakamov, Yak-uh-mawv

 

Any others anyone wants to know?

[Vaidd he/him]

I've realized after reading through this thread that I'm probably putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable in "Renarin" and "Navani."  In my head, the second syllable is stressed (reh-NAHR-in and nuh-VAHN-ee), but that doesn't match with all of the other lighteyes with three-syllable names.  In all of these, it seems pretty obvious the accent is on the first syllable:

 

Elhokar

Dalinar

Gavilar

Adolin

Kaladin (not a lighteyes but everyone says his name sounds like one)

Jakamav

Sadeas

Wistiow

 

Audiobook listeners, is this the correct pattern?  Do the three-syllable names get the stress on the first syllable?  If so, Renarin would be something like RENN-uh-rin, and Navani would be NAV-uh-ni, or maybe NAHV-uh-ni.

 

Side note:  I'm ashamed to admit that I was most of the way through my second reading of tWoK before I realized the king's name wasn't Elkohar.

[FeatherWriter she/her]

I've realized after reading through this thread that I'm probably putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable in "Renarin" and "Navani."  In my head, the second syllable is stressed (reh-NAHR-in and nuh-VAHN-ee), but that doesn't match with all of the other lighteyes with three-syllable names.  In all of these, it seems pretty obvious the accent is on the first syllable:

 

Elhokar

Dalinar

Gavilar

Adolin

Kaladin (not a lighteyes but everyone says his name sounds like one)

Jakamav

Sadeas

Wistiow

 

Audiobook listeners, is this the correct pattern?  Do the three-syllable names get the stress on the first syllable?  If so, Renarin would be something like RENN-uh-rin, and Navani would be NAV-uh-ni, or maybe NAHV-uh-ni.

 

Side note:  I'm ashamed to admit that I was most of the way through my second reading of tWoK before I realized the king's name wasn't Elkohar.

 

Actually, this is correct. ren-AHR-in is the correct pronunciation. Took me a long while to reteach myself that one. Also yes, the K is in the last syllable for Elhokar. Not Elkohar.

 

I will say, I've been punching away at a pronunciation guide for the cosmere -- to the best of my very limited knowledge -- for a few months, but this thread convinced me to finally post it. It's here on tumblr, and I'll probably keep that one updated, but I'll copy-paste into a spoiler tag for those who don't want to look at something super long.

 

I’m trying to do both IPA and the sort of pseudo-spelling transcription for all of the names. I do put spaces in my IPA to denote syllables, though I know that’s not standard mostly because I like the way it looks). One of these days I will re-record my pronunciation meme so you all can hear me pronounce these, since most of the ones on my previous recording— expecially the Rosharan names — are out of date. I’ll grab that list though.

• (***) Asterisks denote a pronunciation that is confirmed by Brandon Sanderson or Peter Ahlstrom, but that I don’t have audio footage of. Otherwise, I have tried to link to an accurate audio recording where I can. If there’s no asterisks or link, it’s my best guess.
• (???) Question marks denote pronunciations I am very unsure of.

Everything else is a best guess on my part, but one that I’m fairly sure of. I’m human and my IPA is a little bit rusty. If you see a mistake here or know that I’ve got a wrong transcription, please send me a message and I’ll update this.

Also this is going to be an ongoing project probably, because I’m going to try to keep this updated as much as possible and as complete as possible. If there’s any words I’m missing that you’d like to see me take a crack at, hit me up.

 

Sel

Elantris actually has an official pronunciation guide. Maybe someday I will write out IPA for those but I am TOO LAZY TO DO IT RIGHT NOW.

 

Scadrial

French-sounding names. Expect in-world pronunciations to be slightly different than out-of-world. The Scadrian pronunciations are my best guess, considering my French training. Some names that are not French-esque, like Terris names, I don’t have a specific Scadrial guess for.

• Vin

  ***ENGLISH: [vɪn] — VIHN

  SCADRIAN: [vɛ̃] — VAH(n) (nasalized)

   

• Elend

  (???)ENGLISH: (1) [ɪl ˈɛnd] — ihl-END 

                            (2) [ˈil ɪnd] — EE-lend

                            (3) [ˈɛl ɪnd] — EL-end

  SCADRIAN: [el ɛ̃] — ay-LAH(n) (nasalized)

   

• Kelsier

  ENGLISH: [ˈkɛl si ɚ] —- KEL-see-ur

  SCADRIAN: [kɛl si e] — KEL-see-ay

   

• Lestibournes

  ENGLISH: [ˈlɛ stɪ bɔɹnz] —  LEH-stih-borns

  SCADRIAN: [le sti buʀn] — LAY-stee-boorrn

   

• Venture

  ENGLISH: [ˈvɛn tʃər] — VIN-chur

  SCADRIAN: [vɑ̃ tyʀ] — vah(n)-TYURR (nasal A, glottal trill R)

   

• Sazed

  [’seɪz·ed] —  SAY-zed

   

• Tindwyl

  ENGLISH: [’tɪn dwɪl] —  TIN-dwul

   

• TenSoon

  ENGLISH: [tɛn sun] —  ten-SOON

  SCADRIAN: [tɛ̃ syn] — tah(n)-SOUN

   

• Allrianne Cett

  ENGLISH: [al ɹi ‘an sɛt] —  all-ree-AWN SET

  SCADRIAN: [al ʀi an sɛt] — ahl-rrhee-AHN SET (glottal trill R)

   

• Breeze

  ENGLISH: [’bɹiz] —  BREEZ

  SCADRIAN: [bʀiz] — BRREEZ (glottal trill R)

   

• Renoux

  ENGLISH: [ɹɛ nu] —  re-NOO

  SCADRIAL: [ʀə nu] —  rruh-NOO (glottal trill R)

   

• Demoux

  ENGLISH: [dɛ mu] —  de-MOO 

  SCADRIAL: [də mu] —  duh-MOO

Nalthis

• Vivenna

  [vɪ ‘vɜ nʌ] — vih-VEN-uh

   

• Sisirinah or Siri

  [sɪ sɪər ‘i nʌ] / [sɪə ɹi] — sih-sear-EE-nuh

   

• Susebron

  [’su sɛb ɔn] — SOO-seh-brawn

   

• Vasher

  [’væʃ ər] — VASH-ur 

   

• Denth

  [’dɛnθ] — DENTH

Roshar

• Kaladin 

  [ˈkæl ə dɪn] — KAL-uh-din

   

• Dalinar

  [‘dæl ɪn aɹ] — DAL-in-ahr

   

• Shallan

  [ʃə ˈlɑn] — shuh-LAHN

• Jasnah

  [ˈjas nɐ] — YASS-nah

   

• Renarin

  ***[ɹɜn ˈa ɹɪn] — ren-AHR-in

   

• Adolin

  [ˈei̯ do lɪn] — AY-doh-lin

   

• Navani

  [nʌ ’va ni] — nuh-VAH-nee

   

• Szeth

  [zɛθ] — ZETH

   

• Elhokar

  [’ɛl hoʊ kaɹ] — EL-hoh-kar

   

• Sylphrena

  [sɪl ’fɹɛ nʌ] — sil-FREN-uh

   

• Taravangian

  [tɛər ə væn ˈdʒi æn] — tair-uh-VANGE-ee-an

•  
• Numuhukumakiaki’aialunamor

  [nu mu hu ku ma ki a ki a i a lu na moɹ] — noo-moo-hoo-koo-mah-kee-ah-kee-ah-ee-ah-loo-nah-more

   

• Kholin

  ALETHI: ***[xoˈlɪn] — xhoh-LIN (the xh is the sound in “loch”)

  ENGLISH: (1) ***[koˈlɪn] — koh-LIN

                  (2) ***[kʰoˈlɪn] — khoh-LIN (breathy k)

   

• Davar

  (???)[dʌ·ˈvɑɹ] — duh-VAHR

   

• Alethkar / Alethi

  [ʌ ‘lɛθ kaɹ] / [ʌ lɛθ i] — uh-LETH-kahr / uh-LETH-ee

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Why thank you! That saves me quite a bit of time. I'm still hunting down some Elantris stuff before I edit the list in the OP.

 

Edit: Official List is updated with a link to Sel Pronunciation guide, and various section headers (I can't get too ambitious now).

Edited March 23, 2015 by Blaze1616

[Xaladin he/him]

How do you say Atium?

[natc]

How do you say Atium?

Depends on how you say Ati's name I guess. Because the -ium is the same for a ton of elements.

[sanderfan she/her]

I say AY-tee so then it would be AY-tee-um.

[tobar14 he/him]

listening to the audiobooks really surprised me when I read the book first. Audio version of Siuan is Swan.

 

For the books I listen to before reading the voice actor version is what I always default to. There was a weird quirk in the audiobook version in TWoK that set up a hilarious moment in WoR that no one reading would have seen. In TWoK Michael Kramer pronounced Sadeas as SAD-ee-us, his wife Kate Reading pronounced it Suh-dee-us. In the prologue of WoR Kate was reading and when it came time for her to say sadeas she really REALLY emphasized it pronouncing it as SAD-ee-us. I mean it was as if she was saying "me and Michael had a really long talk and after reading all the complaints agreed to check with one another on our pronunciation for continuity. Sorry for the confusion. you can stop sending glitter bombs."

 

For the readers, here are the audiobook version of the names, Note: I am not great at spelling phonetically.

 

Adolin, EY-doh-lin The A sounds like say

Kiin, kai-ain where i sounds like eye

Sazed, Say-zed

Loial, Loyal

Skaa, Skah

Iyatl, ee-YA-tl

Roion, Roy-ee-on

Shallan, Shuh-lawn

Ryshadium, ri-shade-ee-um

Bussik, Biss-sick

Balat, buh-LOT

Zahel, rhymes with vile

Jasnah, yes-nuh

Nale, Nah-luh

Jakamov, Yak-uh-mawv

 

Any others anyone wants to know?

It is still Siuan, but when you say it fast enough it sounds like "swan"  See-oo-wahn   (wahn sounds rhymes with on).

 

I've listened to all the cosmere works in audio format (those that are available), and I disagree with your phonetic spelling on a few of them.

 

Adolin always sounded to me like Ad-Oh-Lin   Ad as in Add, Oh as in the letter O, Lin like the name Lynn.

Jasnah always sounded to me like Ya-znuh.

 

I agree with the others though!

[Ari he/him]

I say AY-tee so then it would be AY-tee-um.

 

It's interesting how many of you are reading this diphthong "ay" sound for many of the lone As in names. I always pronounced Ati in my head something like the word "arty", but without the r, but shortened it for Atium to sound like "atty-um". Likewise Adolin was "add-o-lin" to me.

 

That said I had completely unsuccessful in picking up any of Brandon's intended sounds from his Anglicising Aonic names- from Sarene sounding like "sareen" to me, to Kiin being a single syllable in my head.